Following Donald Trump‘s controversial Madison Square Garden rally, Bill Maher had some thought about the choice in entertainment.
On Friday’s episode of Real Time, the host responded commented on roast comedian Tony Hinchcliffe‘s set at the campaign event, in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”
“What the Trump people did at this rally — it’s so Trump — they hired an insult comic,” said Maher. “Really, he went up there and did very insulting things. I’d never heard of him, but this is his act he does all the time. And he told a really demeaning joke about Puerto Rico. … It didn’t even go over with the Trump crowd. They said, ‘Look, we didn’t come here to hear vicious remarks from an insult comic. We came here to hear it from the candidate.’”
During his roundtable with Tim Miller and Michael Moynihan, Maher worried the backlash made “the Democrats look weak because they can’t take a joke,” as President Joe Biden previously called Trump supporters “garbage” in response (he’s since clarified he was referring to the joke about Puerto Rico).
“Well, it was insulting,” he reasoned. “But look, I have to defend my profession. I’m a comic, I’m a free speech [supporter]. … But this guy’s an insult comic. Why he’s at this particular [event], it’s like bringing cocaine to a funeral.”
Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
After Republicans took offense to Biden’s comment, Maher said, “They are just as big snowflakes, they are. Because, if I did that joke in reverse and instead of Puerto Rico, said Staten Island, they would have had a s— fit. They would have found that completely unacceptable.”
Following Trump’s MSG rally, Harris gave an impassioned closing argument on Tuesday in front of the White House, where an estimated 75,000 people were reportedly in attendance.
“These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators,” she said. “The United States of America is the greatest idea of humanity ever devised, a nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us, and fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities.”
The vice president added, “I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your life better. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress… And to people who disagree with me — unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I will give them a seat at the table.”